Hunters frequently use liquid game attractants to attract various types of game animals to a location within the firing range of the hunter. Such attractants include animal urine as well as manufactured liquids designed to produce odors mirroring a particular animal gland or sweet smelling fruit or vegetable. The effectiveness of these attractants is largely dependent upon the extent to which the odor associated with the attractant can be detected by the olfactory system of the hunted game animal. Thus, the effectiveness of such attractants largely depends on the degree the attractant is diffused throughout the hunting environment. Traditional methods of diffusing liquid game attractant include directly applying the attractant to a structure within the hunting environment, dispersing the attractant as a fine liquid spray via spray devices, and dispersing the attractant as an aerosol through the use of fogging devices. However, dispersing the attractant as a liquid or liquid spray often limits the distance to which the attractant may be diffused by the wind, thereby reducing efficacy of the game attractant. Moreover, dispersing the game attractant as an aerosol often entails releasing chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere, thus negatively impacting the environment. Accordingly, such traditional methods are problematic and not ideal for modern hunting applications.
More recently, attempts have been made within the art to cure the problems associated with the traditional methods of diffusing liquid game attractant by vaporizing liquid game attractant to produce a game attractant vapor. Generally, vaporized game attractant can diffuse a greater distance than liquid attractant and is not as detrimental to the environment as conventional aerosols. Devices currently known in the art often vaporize liquid game attractant by elevating the temperature of the game attractant until the attractant reaches a vaporizing point, at which time the attractant is converted to a vapor state. Generally, known devices use a heating element placed in close proximity to the liquid game attractant to achieve this end. However, heating the game attractant in this manner may adversely affect the efficacy of the liquid game attractant by breaking certain chemical bonds or otherwise denaturing certain compounds within the game attractant, such as proteins, associated with the odor naturally emitted by the liquid game attractant. In the event such compounds are denatured, the odor emitted by the game attractant in its vapor state may be wildly different from the odor it is intended to emit in its liquid state, thus reducing or eliminating the efficacy of the game attractant altogether.
Although some non-heating based liquid vaporizing devices have been developed, such devices are generally not designed for, or are incapable of, vaporizing liquid game attractants, such as deer urine. Moreover, such devices are generally intended solely for home or office use and thus are not designed or manufactured to withstand strenuous environmental conditions and wear and tear associated with hunting. For instance, non-heating based vaporizers currently known in the art are likely to break and/or become inoperable if submerged in water or dropped from an elevated structure such as a hunter's tree stand.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a non-heating based device and method for vaporizing liquid game attractant that is capable of withstanding the strenuous environmental conditions and wear and tear associated with hunting.